Motor with rotor-mounted control circuitry

ABSTRACT

A rotating electromechanical machine has a rotor having at least one current-carrying winding and at least one rotor-mounted sensor configured to sense a machine property or parameter during machine operation. Rotor-mounted circuitry dynamically modifies at least one property of the current-carrying winding during machine operation in response to the sensed machine property or parameter.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is related to and claims the benefit of theearliest available effective filing date(s) from the following listedapplication(s) (the “Related Applications”) (e.g., claims earliestavailable priority dates for other than provisional patent applicationsor claims benefits under 35 USC §119(e) for provisional patentapplications, for any and all parent, grandparent, great-grandparent,etc, applications of the Related Application(s)). All subject matter ofthe Related Applications and of any and all parent, grandparent,great-grandparent, etc, applications of the Related Applications isincorporated herein by reference to the extent such subject matter isnot inconsistent herewith.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

1. For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the presentapplication constitutes a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/800,717, entitled MOTOR WITH ROTOR-MOUNTED CONTROL CIRCUITRY, namingRoderick A. Hyde; Jordin T. Kare and Lowell L. Wood, Jr. as inventors,filed 19 May 2010, which is currently co-pending, or is an applicationof which a currently co-pending application is entitled to the benefitof the filing date. The United States Patent Office (USPTO) haspublished a notice to the effect that the USPTO's computer programsrequire that patent applicants reference both a serial number andindicate whether an application is a continuation orcontinuation-in-part. Stephen G. Kunin, Benefit of Prior-FiledApplication, USPTO Official Gazette Mar. 18, 2003. The present ApplicantEntity (hereinafter “Applicant”) has provided above a specific referenceto the application(s) from which priority is being claimed as recited bystatute. Applicant understands that the statute is unambiguous in itsspecific reference language and does not require either a serial numberor any characterization, such as “continuation” or“continuation-in-part,” for claiming priority to U.S. patentapplications. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Applicant understands thatthe USPTO's computer programs have certain data entry requirements, andhence Applicant is designating the present application as acontinuation-in-part of its parent applications as set forth above, butexpressly points out that such designations are not to be construed inany way as any type of commentary and/or admission as to whether or notthe present application contains any new matter in addition to thematter of its parent application(s).

BACKGROUND

This disclosure relates to electromechanical machines (e.g., electricalmotors and/or electrical generators or alternators). Theelectromechanical machines include a stationary component (e.g., astator assembly) and a non-stationary component (e.g., a rotorassembly), which moves relative to the stationary component. In rotatingelectromechanical machines, the rotor assembly is usually mounted on arotor shaft and arranged to rotate with a predetermined air gap relativeto the stator assembly. The stator assembly and rotor assembly mayinclude permanent magnetic and/or electromagnetic elements or circuits(e.g., induction loops, wire windings, etc.), which create and/orinteract with magnetic fields in the operation of the electromechanicalmachines.

Consideration is now being given to improving the performancecharacteristics of electromechanical machines.

SUMMARY

Approaches to improving the performance characteristics ofelectromechanical machines including motors and generators are provided.

In an exemplary approach, a rotating electrical machine has a “smart”rotor, containing “active” electronic control or regulatory elements.The active electronic elements (e.g., transistors) may be distinguishedfrom passive electronic elements (e.g., resistors, capacitors, andinductors). In contrast to passive electronic elements, some of theactive electronic elements may amplify the power of a signal undersuitable conditions.

The active electronic elements may be mounted on or included within therotor assembly. The smart rotor may not have any external wiredconnections (e.g., via slip rings) to the active electronic elements.The rotor-mounted active electronic elements may, for example, includeone or more of switchgear, sensors, control circuitry and memory,telemetry devices, reactive elements, and/or energy-storage devices. Thesmart rotors may store or draw energy in other than electrical/magneticor kinetic forms (e.g., in electrochemical form) from the internalenergy-storage devices.

The rotor-mounted active electronic elements may act during machineoperation to, for example, modify rotor-stator interactions. Therotor-mounted active electronic elements may be switchably coupled to atleast one motor winding or circuit to controllably increase or decreasethe rotor's angular rate or alter its position or orientation, forexample, by increasing or reducing current flow through a rotor winding.The use of these rotor-mounted active electronic elements in a smartrotor may improve transient performance capabilities (e.g., enablemechanical surges without power-line surges, and controlled mechanicalpower-up or power-down capabilities in event of abrupt power-linevoltage changes).

The rotor-mounted active electronic elements may enable attainment andmaintenance of fractional rotational speed without significantloss-of-rated-torque, including cooperating with a stator each of whosewindings are excited (e.g., with use of solid-state devices such asdiodes and SCRs) with multiple half-waves of utility-derived current ofthe same polarity before switching to similar excitation of the oppositepolarity. The rotor-mounted active electronic elements may furtherenable suppression of back EMF surges and voltage spikes in statorwindings (and thus utility lines) via real-time measurement and activemanagement of current flows in rotor windings or current loops.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating features of an exemplarymotor having a smart rotor containing rotor-mounted active electronicelements, in accordance with the principles of the solutions describedherein;

FIGS. 2A and 2B are schematic diagrams illustrating components of anexemplary induction motor having a smart squirrel cage rotor, inaccordance with the principles of the solutions described herein;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary rotor assemblywith one or more one or more on-rotor sensors each of which have asensing portion coupled to an optical readout portion, in accordancewith the principles of the solutions described herein; and,

FIGS. 4-6 are flow diagrams illustrating exemplary features of methodsthat relate to use of smart rotors, in accordance with the principles ofthe solutions described herein;

Throughout the figures, unless otherwise stated, the same referencenumerals and characters are used to denote like features, elements,components, or portions of the illustrated embodiments.

DESCRIPTION

In the following description of exemplary embodiments, reference is madeto the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof. It will beunderstood that embodiments described herein are exemplary, but are notmeant to be limiting. Further, it will be appreciated that the solutionsdescribed herein can be practiced or implemented by other than thedescribed embodiments. Modified embodiments or alternate embodiments maybe utilized, in the spirit and scope of the solutions described herein.

In one approach, a mechanically or electrically-rotating machine (e.g.,a motor, a generator, an alternator, a synchronous condenser) includesone or more “active” elements in a rotating element (e.g., a rotor) thatcan modify the electromagnetic and/or mechanical characteristics of therotor and thereby the operational behavior of the machine. The rotor mayhave no wired-or-electrically-conducting connection to other parts ofthe motor. The active element may, for example, include a nonlinearpower device. The active element may behave other than a distributedinductor, a distributed capacitor, a distributed resistor, or adistributed inertial element. The active element may behave, forexample, as a source of EMF, as a non-linear reactive or resistiveelement, as an energy-storage or energy-release element, a magneticreluctance-varying element, or as a control of any such element or setof them. An active inertial element may include a mechanically movablerotor element (e.g., a sliding shaft-mounted element), an inertialmoment changer, etc. A controller may be configured to provide feedbackbetween rotor and stator windings.

The terms “rotor circuitry” or “rotor-mounted circuitry” may be usedherein interchangeably with terms such as rotor windings, and/orcurrent-carrying windings or circuits. In general, the terms rotor orrotor-mounted “circuitry” will be understood to refer to one or more ofthe active elements (e.g., a nonlinear power device, a source of EMF, anon-linear reactive or resistive element, an energy-storage orenergy-release element, a magnetic reluctance-varying element, etc.),conductors (e.g., windings, conducting loops, wires or segments), and/orany combination thereof.

FIG. 1 shows an exemplary electrical machine (e.g., motor 100) having asmart rotor 110 containing rotor-mounted or -embedded active elements.Exemplary electrical motor 100 includes a rotor 110 having at least onecurrent-carrying winding 130, rotor-mounted circuitry 140 responsive toat least one rotor-mounted [or rotor-embedded] sensor 120, and anoptional controller 150/150′.

Rotor-mounted sensor 120 may be configured to sense a motor property(e.g., a voltage, current, temperature, rotational speed/acceleration,and or/magnetic field, etc.) during motor operation. The rotor-mountedsensor may, for example, be configured to sense at least one of awinding current, voltage, resistance, capacitance, inductance, magneticfield and/or direction, temperature, speed, rotation rate, rotationangle and/or angular acceleration.

Rotor-mounted sensor 120 may be a sensor of the type described, forexample, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,704,906 or U.S. Pat. No. 6,504,275. Thefirst cited patent describes a rotor-mounted sensor for measuring astator-rotor air gap. The second cited patent describes rotor-mountedsensors for sensing current, torque, velocity, temperature, and/or airgap in a motor.

The rotor-mounted circuitry may include one or more active or passiveelectronic devices (e.g. resistance, inductance, capacitance, voltagesource, current source, etc.) placed in series or parallel with thecurrent-carrying winding. The rotor-mounted circuitry may, for example,include one or more one or more electronic switching devices (e.g., atriac, a silicon-controlled rectifier, solid state relay, switchingtransistors and/or a thyristor). Alternatively or additionally, therotor-mounted circuitry may include linear electronic devices (e.g., aMOSFET, IGBT, bipolar transistor) and/or circuits (including circuitshaving non-linear devices that are set to operate in a linear regime).

The rotor-mounted circuitry may be configured to modify rotor conductorproperties (e.g., real and/or imaginary components of impedance) of therotor windings so as to control or regulate starting or running torque,to control or regulate starting or running current drawn from theutility mains, and/or to control or regulate peak electromechanicalstresses on some motor component. Alternatively or additionally, therotor-mounted circuitry may be configured to modify magnetic properties(e.g., magnetic reluctance) and/or mechanical properties (e.g.,mechanical moments).

The rotor-mounted circuitry may be configured to dynamically modify aproperty of a current-carrying winding during motor operation inresponse to the sensed motor property, or a history or physical model ofsensed motor properties, or an external command. For example, therotor-mounted circuitry may be configured to modify a current and/or animpedance of the current-carrying winding. Further, the rotor-mountedcircuitry may be configured to vary the property of the current-carryingwinding as function of a rotor angle or position, angular rate and/orangular acceleration. The rotor-mounted circuitry may be configured tovary the property of the current-carrying winding as a continuousfunction. The rotor-mounted circuitry may be configured to vary theproperty of the current-carrying winding between a set of discreteproperty values.

Exemplary rotor-mounted circuitry for varying the property of thecurrent-carrying winding may include a switch-mode regulator. Theswitch-mode regulator may be configured to switch the property of thecurrent-carrying winding at a rate higher than a characteristic ornominal frequency (e.g., rotor's angular frequency, pole frequency,etc.). Thus, the property of the current-carrying winding may be variedas a function of a rotor angle or position in the course of machineoperation. An effective value of the property of the current-carryingwinding may be determined by a switching pulse rate and/or pulse widthor amplitude of a switched variable. The nominal frequency may be anysuitable frequency in consideration of machine characteristics and/or adegree of control desired. The nominal frequency may, for example, beabout 10 KHz, 100 KHz, or 1 MHz.

The exemplary electrical motor may include a controller configured tosupervise operation of the at least one rotor-mounted sensor and therotor-mounted circuitry. The controller may include any suitablesoftware, routines and/or algorithms for supervising the operation ofthe at least one rotor-mounted sensor and the rotor-mounted circuitry.An exemplary controller may be configured to regulate a motor operatingparameter (e.g., starting current, running current, rotor temperature,power consumption, and/or torque).

An exemplary controller may include one or more rotor-mounted controllercomponents and/or off-rotor controller components. The off-rotorcomponents may be configured to communicate with the rotor-mountedcircuitry, the at least one rotor-mounted sensor and/or the one or morerotor-mounted controller components via optical, RF, acoustic,ultrasound, induction, and/or conducting (e.g., slip ring or brush)means. The controller may be further configured to receive data inputsand commands from off-rotor sensors and/or external sources. Thecontroller may, for example, include a signaling device which is capableof receiving or transmitting data (e.g., data pertinent to the rotor'sstate-or-condition or a control-setting).

Smart rotor 110 may have no wired-or-electrically-conducting connectionto other parts of the motor. Smart rotor 110 may include rotor-mountedor embedded energy sources 160 (e.g., batteries, electrochemical cells,EMF power scavengers, etc.) to power operation of rotor mountedcomponents or devices (e.g., sensors, circuitry, controllers, actuators,etc.). Alternatively or additionally, the rotor mounted components ordevices may be powered by off-rotor power sources via wireless couplings(e.g., inductively and/or optically). Rotor 110 may, for example,include an inductively-coupled device (e.g., a transformer element) forthis purpose. The rotor-mounted circuitry may operate without thecomplication of brushes or slip-rings to transfer power and/or datasignals to or from external locations.

The controller may be configured to provide energy to individual rotorelements from the rotor-mounted or embedded energy sources 160 to flowcurrents in the rotor prior to or at motor start up (e.g., to control orregulate motor back-electromotive forces). Alternatively oradditionally, the controller may be configured so that energy sources160 receive energy from an off-rotor supply and store the same prior toor at motor start up. The controller may be configured or programmed sothat energy is provided individual rotor elements from energy sources160 according to a torque-to-load program or schedule.

FIGS. 2A and 2B show an exemplary induction motor 200 having a smartrotor configured, for example, as a squirrel cage rotor 210, which isdisposed in a stator (e.g., stator 218 containing armature windings). Anexemplary squirrel cage rotor 210 includes one or more switchableconductive bars (e.g., longitudinal bars 212) and active electricalelements to control or regulate motor operation. Induction motor 200 mayinclude on-rotor and/or off rotor sensors (e.g. sensor 216) to sense ormonitor motor parameters or conditions. The active electrical elementsmay, for example, include rotor-mounted circuitry 214 that is configuredto switch individual bars 212 during motor operation in response tosensed motor parameters or conditions, and/or control program commands.

Rotor-mounted circuitry 214 may, for example, include transistors,circuits and switches. Rotor-mounted circuitry 214 may be configured toswitch individual bars 212 to control or regulate an operational motorparameter (e.g., startup current, running current, rotor speed and/ortorque). Rotor-mounted circuitry 214 may be configured to switchindividual bars to control or regulate an operational motor parameter,for example, as function of one or more of a shaft angle, a magneticfield angle or phase, a motor current demand, and/or temperature. Forthis purpose, rotor-mounted circuitry 214 may be configured to open orclose individual bars 212 during motor operation. Further, rotor-mountedcircuitry 214 may be configured to connect individual bars torotor-mounted energy sources 150 to modify or regulate motor operation(e.g., to modify a torque acting on the rotor). The rotor-mounted energysources 150 may include one or more of inductors, capacitors, primaryand/or secondary batteries, and/or other electrochemical elements on orwithin rotor 210.

Rotor-mounted circuitry 214 may be configured to modify rotor conductorsand thus the mains-presented impedance of an induction motor.Rotor-mounted circuitry 214 may for example, include MOSFET or IGBTswitches to switch rotor conductors into or out of a circuit. The rotorconductors may be switched one-or-more times during motor start-up tolimit or regulate, for example, starting torque, starting-current drawnfrom the utility mains, and/or peak electromechanical stresses on somemotor component.

FIG. 3 shows an exemplary rotor assembly 300 for a motor. Rotor assembly300 may, for example, be a wound rotor or a squirrel cage type rotor.Rotor assembly 300 includes a rotatable body 300 (or rotor core) and oneor more on-rotor sensors 320. A sensing portion 330 may have a sensor320 coupled to a physical optical readout portion 340. Sensing portion330 may be configured to sense a motor parameter during motor operationand display its value on optical readout portion 340. Optical readoutportion 340 may be disposed, for example, on a cylindrical surface ofrotor 300. Alternatively, optical readout portion 340 may be disposed ona side face of rotor 300. Optical readout portion 340 may be arranged sothat it can be optically read by an external reading device 350. Forexample, with reference to FIG. 3, optical readout portion 340 may bearranged to be optically read by external reading device 350′ disposedon a stator (e.g., stator 218) in which rotor assembly 300 is disposed.

The values of the motor parameter readout by external reading device 350may be transmitted to a motor controller, for example, to dynamicallycontrol motor operations or to maintain a log of motor characteristics.

On-rotor sensor 320 may, for example, be a battery-powered sensor, acapacitively-powered sensor an inductively-powered sensor, an opticallypowered sensor, and/or a sensor powered by energy scavenged from themotor environment or operation. Optical readout portion 340 of sensor320 may, for example, be a liquid crystal display, a micro mirror, avibrating mirror/cornercube, an LED, and/or a MEMS-actuated flag.Optical readout portion 340 may be arranged to serially provideindividual readout values of the motor parameter corresponding to aplurality of individual rotor axial/radial positions, for example, asrotor assembly 310 rotates during motor operation. Alternatively oradditionally, optical readout portion 340 may be arranged to provide amultiplexed readout values of the motor parameters, for example, onescorresponding to a plurality of individual rotor axial/radial positionsin motor operation.

FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 are flow diagrams respectively showing exemplaryfeatures of methods 400, 500 and 600, which relate to use of smartrotors.

Method 400 includes, during operation of an electrical motor having arotor with at least one current-carrying winding, sensing a motorproperty using at least one rotor-mounted sensor (410), and dynamicallymodifying a property of the current-carrying winding during motoroperation in response to the sensed motor property (420). The sensedmotor property may, for example, be one of a winding current,temperature, rotor speed, and or angular acceleration. Rotor-mountedcircuitry may be used to modify a property of the current-carryingwinding. The rotor-mounted circuitry may include one or more activeelectronic devices and/or circuits. The rotor-mounted circuitry mayinclude one or more electronic switching devices (e.g., a triac, asilicon-controlled rectifier, solid state relay, switching transistorsand/or a thyristor). Alternatively or additionally, the rotor-mountedcircuitry may include one or more linear electronic devices and/orcircuits (e.g., a MOSFET, IGBT, bipolar transistor). The rotor-mountedcircuitry may include one or more active or passive electronic devices(e.g., resistance, inductance, capacitance, voltage source, currentsource) placed in series or parallel with all or a portion of thecurrent-carrying winding. The rotor-mounted circuitry may include aswitch-mode regulator or a switch-mode power supply. The switch-moderegulator may switch the property of the current-carrying winding at arate higher than the rotor's angular frequency. An effective value ofthe property of the current-carrying winding may be determined by aswitching pulse rate, pulse width and/or amplitude of a switchedvariable.

In method 400, the rotor-mounted circuitry may be used to modify acurrent and/or an impedance of the current-carrying winding. Therotor-mounted circuitry may be configured to vary the property of thecurrent-carrying winding in time as function of a rotor angle or rate,for example, in a continuous function. The rotor-mounted circuitry maybe configured to vary the property of the current-carrying windingbetween a set of discrete property values.

Further, in method 400, a controller may be deployed to superviseoperation of the at least one rotor-mounted sensor and the rotor-mountedcircuitry. The controller may have algorithms, routines, or programs forcontrolling or regulating a motor operating parameter (e.g., startingcurrent, rotor temperature, power consumption, and/or a torque). Thecontroller may include rotor-mounted controller components and/oroff-rotor controller components. The off-rotor components communicatewith the rotor-mounted circuitry, the at least one rotor-mounted sensorand/or the one or more rotor-mounted controller components by anysuitable means (e.g., via optical, RF, induction, acoustic, and/or brushconnection means). The controller may receive data inputs and commandsfrom off-rotor sensors and/or external sources.

With reference to FIG. 5, method 500 includes, in an induction motorhaving a squirrel cage rotor with conductive bars or circuits, sensing amotor characteristic during motor operation (510), and switching one ormore individual conductive circuits in the rotor during motor operationto control or regulate an operational motor parameter (520). Thecontrolled or regulated operational motor parameter may, for example, beone of startup current, rotor speed and/or torque.

In method 500, switching conductive circuits may include open- orclose-circuiting individual bars and/or connecting individual circuitsto rotor-mounted energy sources. The rotor-mounted energy sources mayinclude one or more of inductors and/or capacitors, switch mode powersupplies, a primary and/or a secondary battery, etc. The method mayinclude recharging an energy storage element during motor operation.Alternatively or additionally, the method may include receiving energyfrom an off-rotor supply and storing the same in the rotor-mountedenergy sources prior to motor start up. The method may include providingenergy to individual elements from the rotor-mounted energy sources toflow currents in the rotor prior to motor start up (e.g., to regulate orcontrol motor back-electromotive forces). The energy may be provided toindividual elements from the rotor-mounted energy sources according tofor, example, a torque-to-load program or schedule.

Further, switching conductive bars may include deploying circuitryconfigured to switch individual circuits to control an operational motorparameter as function of one or more of a shaft angle, a magnetic fieldangle or phase, a motor current draw and/or a sensed temperature. Thecircuitry may, for example, include diodes, transistors, andswitching-mode or other power supplies.

With reference to FIG. 6, method 600 includes providing a rotor assemblyfor a motor (610). The rotor-assembly may include an on-rotor sensorwith a sensing portion coupled to an optical readout portion arranged tobe optically read by an external reading device. The on-rotor sensormay, for example, be one of a battery-powered sensor, aninductively-powered sensor and/or an optically powered sensor. Theoptical readout portion may, for example, be one or more of a liquidcrystal display, a micro mirror, an LED, an actuated mirror/cornercube,and/or a MEMS-actuated flag. Method 600 further includes sensing a motorparameter during motor operation (620), and displaying the sensed motorparameter values on the optical readout portion (630).

In method 600, the optical readout portion may be arranged to beoptically read by the external reading device disposed on or about astator with respect to which the rotor assembly rotates.

Further, the optical readout portion may be arranged to serially or inparallel provide individual readout values of the motor parametercorresponding to a plurality of individual rotor axial/radialparameters. Alternatively or additionally, the optical readout portionmay be arranged to provide multiplexed readout values of the motorparameter corresponding to a plurality of individual rotor axial/radialparameters.

In the detailed description, reference is made to the accompanyingdrawings, which form a part hereof. In the drawings, similar symbolstypically identify similar components, unless context dictatesotherwise. The illustrative embodiments described in the summary,detailed description, drawings, and claims are not meant to be limiting.Other embodiments may be utilized, and other changes may be made,without departing from the spirit or scope of the subject matterpresented here. Those having skill in the art will recognize that thestate of the art has progressed to the point where there is littledistinction left between hardware and software implementations ofaspects of systems; the use of hardware or software is generally (butnot always, in that in certain contexts the choice between hardware andsoftware can become significant) a design choice representing cost vs.efficiency tradeoffs. Those having skill in the art will appreciate thatthere are various vehicles by which processes and/or systems and/orother technologies described herein can be effected (e.g., hardware,software, and/or firmware), and that the preferred vehicle will varywith the context in which the processes and/or systems and/or othertechnologies are deployed. For example, if an implementer determinesthat speed and accuracy are paramount, the implementer may opt for amainly hardware and/or firmware vehicle; alternatively, if flexibilityis paramount, the implementer may opt for a mainly softwareimplementation; or, yet again alternatively, the implementer may opt forsome combination of hardware, software, and/or firmware. Hence, thereare several possible vehicles by which the processes and/or devicesand/or other technologies described herein may be effected, none ofwhich is inherently superior to the other in that any vehicle to beutilized is a choice dependent upon the context in which the vehiclewill be deployed and the specific concerns (e.g., speed, flexibility, orpredictability) of the implementer, any of which may vary. Those skilledin the art will recognize that optical aspects of implementations willtypically employ optically-oriented hardware, software, and or firmware.

The foregoing detailed description has set forth various embodiments ofthe devices and/or processes via the use of block diagrams, flowcharts,and/or examples. Insofar as such block diagrams, flowcharts, and/orexamples contain one or more functions and/or operations, it will beunderstood by those within the art that each function and/or operationwithin such block diagrams, flowcharts, or examples can be implemented,individually and/or collectively, by a wide range of hardware, software,firmware, or virtually any combination thereof. In one embodiment,several portions of the subject matter described herein may beimplemented via Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), FieldProgrammable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), digital signal processing circuits(DSPs), or other integrated formats. However, those skilled in the artwill recognize that some aspects of the embodiments disclosed herein, inwhole or in part, can be equivalently implemented in integratedcircuits, as one or more computer programs running on one or morecomputers (e.g., as one or more programs running on one or more computersystems), as one or more programs running on one or more processingcircuits (e.g., as one or more programs running on one or moremicroprocessors), as firmware, or as virtually any combination thereof,and that designing the circuitry and/or writing the code for thesoftware and or firmware would be well within the skill of one of skillin the art in light of this disclosure. In addition, those skilled inthe art will appreciate that the mechanisms of the subject matterdescribed herein are capable of being distributed as a program productin a variety of forms, and that an illustrative embodiment of thesubject matter described herein applies regardless of the particulartype of signal bearing medium used to actually carry out thedistribution. Examples of a signal bearing medium include, but are notlimited to, the following: a recordable type medium such as a floppydisk, a hard disk drive, a Compact Disc (CD), a Digital Video Disk(DVD), a digital tape, a computer memory, etc.; and a transmission typemedium such as a digital and/or an analog communication medium (e.g., afiber optic cable, a waveguide, a wired communications link, a wirelesscommunication link, etc.). Further, those skilled in the art willrecognize that the mechanical structures disclosed are exemplarystructures and many other forms and materials may be employed inconstructing such structures.

In a general sense, those skilled in the art will recognize that thevarious embodiments described herein can be implemented, individuallyand/or collectively, by various types of electro-mechanical systemshaving a wide range of electrical components such as hardware, software,firmware, or virtually any combination thereof; and a wide range ofcomponents that may impart mechanical force or motion such as rigidbodies, spring or torsional bodies, hydraulics, and electro-magneticallyactuated devices, or virtually any combination thereof. Consequently, asused herein “electro-mechanical system” includes, but is not limited to,electrical circuitry operably coupled with a transducer (e.g., anactuator, a motor, a piezoelectric crystal, etc.), electrical circuitryhaving at least one discrete electrical circuit, electrical circuitryhaving at least one integrated circuit, electrical circuitry having atleast one application specific integrated circuit, electrical circuitryforming a general purpose computing device configured by a computerprogram (e.g., a general purpose computer configured by a computerprogram which at least partially carries out processes and/or devicesdescribed herein, or a microprocessor configured by a computer programwhich at least partially carries out processes and/or devices describedherein), electrical circuitry forming a memory device (e.g., forms ofrandom access memory), electrical circuitry forming a communicationsdevice (e.g., a modem, communications switch, or optical-electricalequipment), and any non-electrical analog thereto, such as optical orother analogs. Those skilled in the art will also appreciate thatexamples of electro-mechanical systems include but are not limited to avariety of consumer electronics systems, as well as other systems suchas motorized transport systems, factory automation systems, securitysystems, and communication/computing systems. Those skilled in the artwill recognize that electro-mechanical as used herein is not necessarilylimited to a system that has both electrical and mechanical actuationexcept as context may dictate otherwise.

In a general sense, those skilled in the art will recognize that thevarious aspects described herein which can be implemented, individuallyand/or collectively, by a wide range of hardware, software, firmware, orany combination thereof can be viewed as being composed of various typesof “electrical circuitry.” Consequently, as used herein “electricalcircuitry” includes, but is not limited to, electrical circuitry havingat least one discrete electrical circuit, electrical circuitry having atleast one integrated circuit, electrical circuitry having at least oneapplication specific integrated circuit, electrical circuitry forming ageneral purpose computing device configured by a computer program (e.g.,a general purpose computer configured by a computer program which atleast partially carries out processes and/or devices described herein,or a microprocessor configured by a computer program which at leastpartially carries out processes and/or devices described herein),electrical circuitry forming a memory device (e.g., forms of randomaccess memory), and/or electrical circuitry forming a communicationsdevice (e.g., a modem, communications switch, or optical-electricalequipment). Those having skill in the art will recognize that thesubject matter described herein may be implemented in an analog ordigital fashion or some combination thereof.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that it is common within the artto implement devices and/or processes and/or systems in the fashion(s)set forth herein, and thereafter use engineering and/or businesspractices to integrate such implemented devices and/or processes and/orsystems into more comprehensive devices and/or processes and/or systems.That is, at least a portion of the devices and/or processes and/orsystems described herein can be integrated into other devices and/orprocesses and/or systems via a reasonable amount of experimentation.Those having skill in the art will recognize that examples of such otherdevices and/or processes and/or systems might include—as appropriate tocontext and application—all or part of devices and/or processes and/orsystems for generation, transmission and distribution of electricalpower, a communications system (e.g., a networked system, a telephonesystem, a Voice over IP system, wired/wireless services, etc.).

One skilled in the art will recognize that the herein describedcomponents (e.g., steps), devices, and objects and the discussionaccompanying them are used as examples for the sake of conceptualclarity and that various configuration modifications are within theskill of those in the art. Consequently, as used herein, the specificexemplars set forth and the accompanying discussion are intended to berepresentative of their more general classes. In general, use of anyspecific exemplar herein is also intended to be representative of itsclass, and the non-inclusion of such specific components (e.g., steps),devices, and objects herein should not be taken as indicating thatlimitation is desired.

With respect to the use of substantially any plural and/or singularterms herein, those having skill in the art can translate from theplural to the singular and/or from the singular to the plural as isappropriate to the context and/or application. The varioussingular/plural permutations are not expressly set forth herein for sakeof clarity.

The herein described subject matter sometimes illustrates differentcomponents contained within, or connected with, different othercomponents. It is to be understood that such depicted architectures aremerely exemplary, and that in fact many other architectures can beimplemented which achieve the same functionality. In a conceptual sense,any arrangement of components to achieve the same functionality iseffectively “associated” such that the desired functionality isachieved. Hence, any two components herein combined to achieve aparticular functionality can be seen as “associated with” each othersuch that the desired functionality is achieved, irrespective ofarchitectures or intermedial components. Likewise, any two components soassociated can also be viewed as being “operably connected”, or“operably coupled”, to each other to achieve the desired functionality,and any two components capable of being so associated can also be viewedas being “operably couplable”, to each other to achieve the desiredfunctionality. Specific examples of operably couplable include but arenot limited to physically mateable and/or physically interactingcomponents and/or wirelessly interactable and/or wirelessly interactingcomponents and/or logically interacting and/or logically interactablecomponents.

While particular aspects of the present subject matter described hereinhave been shown and described, it will be apparent to those skilled inthe art that, based upon the teachings herein, changes and modificationsmay be made without departing from the subject matter described hereinand its broader aspects and, therefore, the appended claims are toencompass within their scope all such changes and modifications as arewithin the true spirit and scope of the subject matter described herein.Furthermore, it is to be understood that the invention is defined by theappended claims. It will be understood by those within the art that, ingeneral, terms used herein, and especially in the appended claims (e.g.,bodies of the appended claims) are generally intended as “open” terms(e.g., the term “including” should be interpreted as “including but notlimited to,” the term “having” should be interpreted as “having atleast,” the term “includes” should be interpreted as “includes but isnot limited to,” etc.). It will be further understood by those withinthe art that if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation isintended, such an intent will be explicitly recited in the claim, and inthe absence of such recitation no such intent is present. For example,as an aid to understanding, the following appended claims may containusage of the introductory phrases “at least one” and “one or more” tointroduce claim recitations. However, the use of such phrases should notbe construed to imply that the introduction of a claim recitation by theindefinite articles “a” or “an” limits any particular claim containingsuch introduced claim recitation to inventions containing only one suchrecitation, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases“one or more” or “at least one” and indefinite articles such as “a” or“an” (e.g., “a” and/or “an” should typically be interpreted to mean “atleast one” or “one or more”); the same holds true for the use ofdefinite articles used to introduce claim recitations. In addition, evenif a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is explicitlyrecited, those skilled in the art will recognize that such recitationshould typically be interpreted to mean at least the recited number(e.g., the bare recitation of “two recitations,” without othermodifiers, typically means at least two recitations, or two or morerecitations). Furthermore, in those instances where a conventionanalogous to “at least one of A, B, and C, etc.” is used, in generalsuch a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the artwould understand the convention (e.g., “a system having at least one ofA, B, and C” would include but not be limited to systems that have Aalone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and Ctogether, and/or A, B, and C together, etc.). In those instances where aconvention analogous to “at least one of A, B, or C, etc.” is used, ingeneral such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill inthe art would understand the convention (e.g., “a system having at leastone of A, B, or C” would include but not be limited to systems that haveA alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and Ctogether, and/or A, B, and C together, etc.). It will be furtherunderstood by those within the art that virtually any disjunctive wordand/or phrase presenting two or more alternative terms, whether in thedescription, claims, or drawings, should be understood to contemplatethe possibilities of including one of the terms, either of the terms, orboth terms. For example, the phrase “A or B” will be understood toinclude the possibilities of “A” or “B” or “A and B.”

While various aspects and embodiments have been disclosed herein, otheraspects and embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art.For example, even through the solutions described herein are in thecontext of electrical rotation machinery including motors andgenerators, the same or similar solutions are applicable tolinear/stepper motors and generators, etc.

Further, for example, rotor properties may be modified during machineoperation by rotor-mounted actuators or electro-mechanical devices. Therotor-mounted actuators or electro-mechanical devices may be deployed inaddition to or instead of the rotor-mounted circuitry described hereinwith respect to FIGS. 1-6. The rotor-mounted actuators orelectro-mechanical devices may include mechanisms for changing themechanical configuration or properties of a rotor (e.g., rotor momentdistribution, pitch of turbine blades, etc.). The mechanisms may, forexample, include counter weights, torque-limiting loads, stabilizers,electromechanical clutches, displaceable shaft-mounted rotor components,etc.

Further, for example, rotor-mounted controller components and/oroff-rotor controller components of a rotating machine may includesuitable interfaces to digital networks. Such interfaces may allow forsystem wide remote control or supervision of one or more rotatingmachine. Each rotating machine (e.g., a turbine or generator) in asystem may be individually addressable over the interconnecting network.

1. A rotor assembly for an electrical rotating machine, the assembly comprising: a rotatable body; a sensing portion having an on-rotor sensor coupled to an optical readout portion; an on-rotor energy storage device wirelessly coupled to an off-rotor power source and the on-rotor energy storage device receiving energy from the off-rotor power source and the on-rotor energy storage device providing power to the sensing portion, wherein the sensor is configured to sense a machine parameter during machine operation, and wherein the optical readout portion is arranged to be optically read by an external reading device.
 2. The rotor assembly of claim 1, wherein the on-rotor sensor is one of a battery-powered sensor, a capacitively-powered sensor, an inductively-powered sensor and/or an optically powered sensor.
 3. The rotor assembly of claim 1, wherein the optical readout portion comprises one or more of a liquid crystal display, a micro mirror, an actuated-mirror/cornercube, an LED, and/or a MEMS-actuated flag.
 4. The rotor assembly of claim 1, wherein the optical readout portion is arranged to be optically read by the external reading device disposed on or about a stator or a mounting frame external to the rotor assembly.
 5. The rotor assembly of claim 1, wherein the optical readout portion is arranged to serially or in parallel provide individual readout values of the machine parameter corresponding to a plurality of individual rotor axial/radial parameters.
 6. The rotor assembly of claim 1, wherein the optical readout portion is arranged to provide a multiplexed readout of values of the machine parameter corresponding to a plurality of individual rotor axial/radial parameters.
 7. A method, comprising: providing a rotor assembly for an electrical rotating machine, the rotor-assembly having a sensing portion with an on-rotor sensor coupled to an optical readout portion arranged to be optically read by an external reading device; sensing a machine parameter during motor operation; providing power to the sensing portion from an on-rotor energy storage device wirelessly coupled to an off-rotor power source; receiving power by the on-rotor energy storage device from the off-rotor power source and the on-rotor energy storage device providing power to the sensing portion; and displaying the sensed machine parameter values on the optical readout portion.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the on-rotor sensor is one of a battery-powered sensor, an inductively-powered sensor and/or an optically powered sensor.
 9. The method of claim 7, wherein the optical readout portion comprises one or more of a liquid crystal display, a micro mirror, a vibrating mirror/cornercube, and/or a MEMS-actuated flag.
 10. The method of claim 7, wherein the optical readout portion is arranged to be optically read by the external reading device disposed on or about a stator with respect to which the rotor assembly rotates.
 11. The method of claim 7, wherein the optical readout portion is arranged to serially and/or in parallel provide individual readout values of the machine parameter corresponding to a plurality of individual rotor axial/radial properties or parameters.
 12. The method of claim 7, wherein the optical readout portion is arranged to provide a multiplexed readout values of the machine parameters corresponding to a plurality of individual rotor axial/radial properties or parameters. 